Background:
January 2012, I was opting for a job with the Belgian railways but my French level needed to be opped quite a bit. If course they where many domestic courses or in France? But Canada has been a place high on my to visit list. So why not combine the 2. I looked for several different options in February and I could choose out of the following options..:

1. Air France: Brussels-Paris-Montreal/Toronto-Paris-Brussels A380-800/A340-300 and TGV train. While the A380 is a new type on my list, I’m not fond of Air France at all. As matter in fact. I had some previous experiences in the past where I had mediocre to bad flights with them. So A No-ruler, Actually I wrote a report about them in 2010 from Boston to Paris CDGA Short Hop On A Big Bird!(by MSS658 Feb 27 2011 in Trip Reports)

2. Jet Airways: Brussels-Toronto-Brussels A330-200. This option somehow impressed me a bit, Jet Airways is a decent carrier and this was the only option leaving from Brussels Airport. However after a good search I found that Canadian domestic options where pretty steep. In addition I just deboarded an A330-200 a e few weeks prior on US Airways from Charlotte. You can read these here.US Airways A332s, A Step Forward In The Fleet?(by MSS658 Apr 26 2012 in Trip Reports)Spectacular Southeastern Sunset Takeoff With US!(by MSS658 Jun 17 2012 in Trip Reports)

3. Air Canada: Paris-Toronto-Montreal Boeing 767-300 on the longhaul.

I would like to go a little bit more in detail on this one here. Back in 2010 I was in Canada for 18 hours when I was trying to log the KLM MD11. Too get back to Florida I had the opportunity to fly on Air Canada from Montreal to Ft Lauderdale via Toronto. I was very impressed by the service. In addition to this the Montreal-Toronto leg got upgraded to a long haul Boeing 767-300 so I had the chance to try out their long haul hardware product. After this trip I was very much willing to try Air Canada on a real-long haul flight. You can read these past reports hereA Ride With A Rare Blue Bird!(by MSS658 Oct 31 2010 in Trip Reports)Air Canada, North America's Hidden Jewel?(by MSS658 Nov 6 2010 in Trip Reports)

I could have flown directly to Montreal on the Boeing 777-300ER, but the option with a change in Toronto was 50 Euros cheaper. The long haul sector was due to be operated by a Boeing 767-300ER. Up to know my most flown on aircraft type, however the Boeing 767 belongs to my favorite type as well and it was since 2009 that I flew the -300 version long haul I did not mind at all flying it again. The Toronto to Montreal sector would be operated by the A319 (see part I).

My next sector that was needed to be booked was my flight from Montreal to Toronto, there where multiple options available between both cities.

1. Air Canada/Rapidair’s hourly shuttle to Toronto Pearson equipment varies between the EMB 170 up to the Boeing 767-300ER.
2. One of Westjet’s 4-daily services to Toronto Pearson operated by the Boeing 737-600

Beside the lagoom of services to Toronto Pearson you can always opt to fly to the Billy Bishop city centre airport. One can compare it against the London city of North America. As we all know Porter operates an hourly schedule as well between both airports operating it’s Dash 8-Q400. Not long ago Air Canada responded to the growing competition and started flying an hourly schedule as well between both airports using the same equipment. The flights are operated by regional carrier Sky Regional. At the day and time of travel Air Canada’s fare was a bit under Porters I decided to catch the former one. However a 14 EUR fee was added to select my seat in advance. hmmm.... wasn’t expecting this from Air Canada

Pre-departure:
The majority of my time was spent in class and studying the french language, however occasionally there was some sightseeing as well in the -17 degrees Celsius weather.

Downtown Montreal:

The harbour, not much movement going on here.

A bit of a summer feeling in one of the many underground malls.

The newer city:

A view from up over Mont Royal:

During my stay I had the oppertunity to make a daytrip to Quebec as well, I could have flewn Air Canada Jazz but prices where 350EUR+. So per bus it was, Orleans Express brings you to Quebec in just over 3 hours and operates on hourly basis. BIDS.

Full house to Quebec this morning.

The bus that did the honors:

Fish market (for Nils):

Winter carnival:

St-Laurence river, many of us have passed here at 35.000feet already.

“Down”town.

Ice-sculpture.

Winter carnival in Quebec

The train/bus station at night!

After a frozen day in Quebec it was time to take the bus back. The roundtrip costs about 75CAD free wifi included. Looks like it’s going to be a calm ride back to Montreal

legroom is ok here.

Ottawa was visited as well, The Canadian Parlaiment

Where all the decisions are to be made from.

Where did I leave my book?

The famous flame in front of the parlement

A small visit (and 90 CAD dollars lighter in the wallet) to the aviation museum as well. various sizes and shapes could be seen here like this DC3

Or this beauty

Back in Montreal, it was time to visit the festival of lights!

A great way to spend a cold evening!

While in Montreal I was able to make a small RTW-cuilinairy expercience as well.
Traditional Canadian Breakfast juice+Cheese bagel

Sushi

Libanese:

Mexican

And many more delights from China, Vietnam, Japan, France... But ifcouse no Canada visit without the famous Poutine

and the queue de castor

On one of my last evenings I got to enjoy a great sunset from the Jean-Drapeau parc

Soon it was one of my last days in Canada and I received an email from Air Canada inviting me to check in online. I selected my pre-selected seat 16F for the next days flight. In the meanwhile heavy snowstorms where hitting the Montreal area delaying all the outbound flights, I was hoping that it would not effect my flight (too much).

The Next morning my day started at 6:00. After some last minute packing and some goodbyes to my host family it was time to hit the road at 7:45. Snowfall was quite dense and it was still snowing. Soon I arrived at the local metro station.

After a short ride on the metro I was in downtown Montreal to take the airport bus “747” to the airport where I arrived at 8:45. Plenty of time for my flight to Toronto.Leaving Montreal Pierre Elliot Trudeau International airport
The first stop on the trip was the FIDS to see if last night’s and this mornings weather did not have to big of an impact. Some flights where running late (especially the flights to Toronto coming from Brussels and Geneva), thankfully the prop flights to Toronto City centre where not impacted too much. Both airlines had a pretty smooth operation this morning and AC 7509 was running bang on time!

The check in in Montreal is divided in 3 parts: a domestic, international and a USA departure area. For me it was another trek to the domestic departures area.

A display showing how to use the check-in. Nice to see how the code “BRU” is used on the baggage label.

When I arrived at the only available kiosk it was soon known that this one is INOP. I proceeded to another kiosk where I could get my boarding pass but could not print my luggage label. Hmmm... The agent recommended me to go use another kiosk without any success here neither. Soon I joined the line for manual check in. When I arrived at the desk I had to explain a few times to the ground agent that I’m already checked in and just needed the luggage tag. Finally at 9:15 my luggage was sent to the Dash and Check-in was complete. Hands down for Air Canada here, I can’t believe I gave this airport 90% on my last visit in 2010.

Next stop was the security check. While I find the procedure very efficient compared to the USA I still don’t get why you have to show your boarding pass 3 times in the security check. After that was completed I was asked to do a survey. With some time on hands I accepted it, by the time it was finished it was 9:45. AC7509 is due to depart from gate 2 which is almost next to the security check. Our Dash had arrived a few minutes prior as AC7504 from Toronto City centre, today C-FSRJ would be operating my first Q400 flight.

Domestic terminal was pretty quiet at this time of day.

Beaver Air:

Air Creebec Dash

Dash heaven (dedicated to Palmjet)

Competition heading to Toronto-city centre as PD412

Soon it was 10:00 and it was time to head over to the gate, the flight would not be to full this morning. Boarding was called at 10:05 and at 10:10 I was onboard of:

Once onboard I was greeted by a female flight attendant and was directed to my seat. I was quite surprised of the cabin appearance, it looked very clean and maintained. Soon I went to the back of the bus where I found my seat 16F. Not so much to see from here, maybe a seat up front would have been better. Oh well, we live and learn. Right?

Soon the chocolate box popped out of the bag and a great conversation was made with one of the Flight Attendants, who was very surprised to hear my reason for flying into the City Centre airport.
Boarding was complete soon and the doors where closed. Soon the captain came on telling us we would have be de-iced due to the weather in Montreal. Push back commenced bang on time at 10:30. Due to the snow you could not see anything out the windows.

There was not so much departure traffic today and we where soon admitted into the de-icing apron. A mere few minutes later the de-icing started on C-FSRJ

While waiting I was starting to make myself comfortable. The seating Sky Regional uses is the standard (well padded) model. The pitch however makes the difference. I’m near 6ft and was able to stretch and cross my legs. For the reminder we are talking about Sky Regionals Economy Class, not Singapore’s first class! Look yourself and see the huge pitch. This is the best pitch I encountered on any regional airplane (hence any short haul flight).

At 10:55 we where de-iced and the plane started to move again towards runway 28. Finally at 11:05 the engines where set to full and we took off up in to the winter Quebec skies after 3 wonderful weeks in this province.

Only a few minutes later we broke the clouds and just a bit later the seat belt sign was switched off. I immediately went for a lavatory break. On the way back I quickly took another seat to have a better view of the propeller.

When I returned to my original seat the service had started. I was expecting Sky Regional to offer the same snack as on the mainline Rapidair flights to Toronto Pearson, I was deeply wrong on this one. Instead I got a well-sized muffin, standard routine on morning flights? Or is it to compete with Porter? What ever the reason is, the size and taste where deeply appreciated.

Looks like a cloudy morning above Ontario today!

A quick cabin shot of C-FSRJ

The rest of the flight passed rather uneventful, I was offered some chocolates from the gift trick. At 11:40 our decent into the Toronto area was commenced, it still looks a bit cloudy above lake Ontario.

Our approach along lake Ontario was a bit on the bumpy side due to the winds in Toronto. Soon we where trough the clouds.

Nearing the ground.

Gear down!

Toronto harbor

Soon we started our approach which was simply breathtaking, I will let the pics do the majority of the talking

City centre insight!

Guess the city!

Nearing the treshold

At 12:02 we touched down at the very beginning of the runway and taxied to the vary end. The Q400 is really the largest aircraft that YTZ can handle. After a very short taxi we arrived at stand 1 at 12:04. Most traffic is operated by Porter Airlines with an exception of the Sky Regional flight to Montreal. There where a few Cessna’s there as well.

After everybody deplaned I was allowed to make one pic of the front office.

By the way, first time I found out that C-FSRJ was the plane that just brought me in from Montreal

After thanking and saying goodbye I exited the aircraft at 12:10 into the jet bride. Quite a strange jet bridge IMO Arrival in Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre airport

Once off board, I made one last pic of C-FSRJ. Shortly before boarding was called on it’s next mission back to Montreal as AC7512. Amazing to know that the plane was only 20 minutes on the ground in Toronto.

And another one

After following a long corridor I arrived at the baggage claim which only consisted of one claim. The claim was deserted and no luggage was to be found. Soon I noticed an Air Canada desk and found my luggage waiting for me! Quit impressive luggage handling since this was only 10 minutes after we came to a halt. Once passed trough the baggage claim you arrive in the small Arrivals hall

Toronto, the home of the Dash

Once after you go trough an escalator to the departures hall. You can clearly see that Porter is the main airline here. You can re-check for another flight or just follow the arrivals to the ferry. Yes the car park, taxi stands,... are actually across the river. Here you find the old tower..

Soon on the ferry towards Toronto “city centre”

Some interesting stuff in the distance

Nearing the mainland

Once in the lot I used Porter’s free bus service to downtown where I took a taxi to my hotel in Chinatown. I arrived there at 13:00 after a 5hour trip from LaSalle. Here are some pics of the Super8 Hotel in Chinatown. I was lucky enough to get a free upgrade of room.

Here is the entrance hall.

Bathroom:

Bedroom:

Water fountain at the entrance hall

The lobby:Overall verdict

I was actually quite impressed by the overall experience by Sky Regional. From the brand new Q400 with very impressive legroom until the generous snack service (which is bigger and better than the Rapidair flights to Toronto Pearson). I have no bad words to say about the crew as well. Toronto City centre is a great airport as well, it’s very fast and convenient for the Business travel (with luck you are in less than 15 minutes in downtown Toronto). For the aviation enthusiast it’s a quite fun place to be as well due to the spectacular approach and the unique design of the airport. The only downside however was the Check-in procedure in Montreal, a bit sad to have to use 3 broken kiosks. In general I could only recommend this service to anyone above the Rapidair flights to Pearson, especially if Toronto is your final destination.

Great TR. You really pushed Canada up on my have-to-visit-list. The city center airport approach seems to be amazing. I really like that it is winter, too and so snowy. I would like to see more winter TRs.... ^^

Quoting CARST (Reply 1):Great TR. You really pushed Canada up on my have-to-visit-list. The city center airport approach seems to be amazing. I really like that it is winter, too and so snowy. I would like to see more winter TRs.... ^^

Hello CARST!
Thanks, I'm glad to hear that. And City centre is spectacular, however this one would be one of the last winter TRs from my side for now!

Nice short report on this rather unique airport. So in fact you had the LCY experience in Canada lol! Canada looks nice (and cold, brrr) in winter as well. Maybe a good idea to go there one of these, who knows?

Nice short report on this rather unique airport. So in fact you had the LCY experience in Canada lol! Canada looks nice (and cold, brrr) in winter as well. Maybe a good idea to go there one of these, who knows?

Hey Nils
Thanks! you could compare it indeed with LCY! still need to go there one day, perhaps next year!

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7):I prefer to deboard these props by stairs but that's not done in Canada and the US of A it seems?

Sultanils

Only in LGA I've deboarded a regional jet via stairs and bus!

Quoting WestJet747 (Reply 8):JV flies a fleet of Fairchild Swearinger Metroliners. One of my pilot friends refers to them as "the flying cigar tube", and quite justly so as they're very compact and don't have any lavs.

Again a very nice TR. Nice to see some pictures from various towns in Canada as well, I'd really like to visit Canada so I hope I'll get to do so soon enough.

Quoting MSS658 (Thread starter):The pitch however makes the difference. I’m near 6ft and was able to stretch and cross my legs. For the reminder we are talking about Sky Regionals Economy Class, not Singapore’s first class! Look yourself and see the huge pitch. This is the best pitch I encountered on any regional airplane (hence any short haul flight).

Wow the legroom really does look great! Never experienced such great legroom on a prop aircraft either.

Hahaha! My, my, my! A lot of proud québécois would be insulted to have their Parliament called a "train station". But then, a lot of politicians could be called train wrecks That's Quebec's national assembly as it is commonly called here. Did you notice all the premier's statues lingering around? Maurice Duplessis, René Lévesque, etc?

Another great report you have made here, love your pictures of Canada: A country I keep liking more and more..
Looks like you had a nice flight ont his short hop from YUL-YTZ
Always wondered what an approach to YTZ would look like, absolutely stunning!

Quoting SafeFlyer (Reply 14):Hahaha! My, my, my! A lot of proud québécois would be insulted to have their Parliament called a "train station". But then, a lot of politicians could be called train wrecks That's Quebec's national assembly as it is commonly called here. Did you notice all the premier's statues lingering around? Maurice Duplessis, René Lévesque, etc?

Another great report you have made here, love your pictures of Canada: A country I keep liking more and more..
Looks like you had a nice flight ont his short hop from YUL-YTZ
Always wondered what an approach to YTZ would look like, absolutely stunning!

Hello Brendan

Thanks, I really like Canada as well. You really should take that YTZ flight once, very stunning approach indeed!

Thanks for this second part of your travels to Canada earlier this year.

It was great to see Montreal in the winter - which looks so very different to how I saw it last week. I can't imagine how cold it gets and a number of Montrealers I spoke to said that despite being born there, they still hate the cold winters.

I now know where you took the Dash 8 pics at YUL - it all looks familiar!

Quote:Dash heaven (dedicated to Palmjet)

Thanks!!

I flew down to YTZ with Porter on Thursday (TR coming soon) but there was an Air Canada Express Dash 8 - 400 at Gate 2 which was the same gate as your flight. I took a pic of the aircraft at the gate there although again, no snow in my pics!

It was impressive to see how big Porter's operation is at YTZ, and the fact that AC Express have a very small proportion of the total number of flights from there, and all of them go solely to YUL. I wonder how long AC Express will continue to operate these flights - clearly they are trying to take some of Porter's market share but I wonder if they are making any money on the route.

Thanks for this second part of your travels to Canada earlier this year.

It was great to see Montreal in the winter - which looks so very different to how I saw it last week. I can't imagine how cold it gets and a number of Montrealers I spoke to said that despite being born there, they still hate the cold winters.

Hello Palmjet

Thanks, glad you liked it. I was indeed surprised that summer and winters are that different in Montreal!

Quoting palmjet (Reply 20):I flew down to YTZ with Porter on Thursday (TR coming soon) but there was an Air Canada Express Dash 8 - 400 at Gate 2 which was the same gate as your flight. I took a pic of the aircraft at the gate there although again, no snow in my pics!

It was impressive to see how big Porter's operation is at YTZ, and the fact that AC Express have a very small proportion of the total number of flights from there, and all of them go solely to YUL. I wonder how long AC Express will continue to operate these flights - clearly they are trying to take some of Porter's market share but I wonder if they are making any money on the route.

Thanks again for your report

Cheers Palmjet

I was surprised indeed (and the small operation of AC). I would think that AC would have a better network out of YTZ to compete with Porter. I wonder how long it's going to stay as well.
Looking forwatd to see the PD review on the same route, will be interesting to compare.

Super great trip report! Well, I am actually a great fan of your trip reports!

I am glad you enjoyed your stay in my home city, home province and home country! Canada is definitely a beautiful place! Air Canada is also a very nice carrier, and on most of my flights with them, they do remind you of the emergency exit locations prior to landing!

Love your pictures, they bring back so many childhood memories! Going to "Carnaval de Québec" with my family was a must as a child! And who knows how many times I slid on those hills! In Québec city, the picture that you identify as Quebec's main train station is actually the Quebec's national assembly (parliament).

And Montreal.. how many times have I biked on that hill and looked at the stadium from exactly that same spot!

Hope you met some nice Canadian fellows during your stay and looking forward to read more about your upcoming trips!

Super great trip report! Well, I am actually a great fan of your trip reports!

Hello yulgc! Thanks for the great words!

Quoting yulqc (Reply 22):
I am glad you enjoyed your stay in my home city, home province and home country! Canada is definitely a beautiful place! Air Canada is also a very nice carrier, and on most of my flights with them, they do remind you of the emergency exit locations prior to landing!

Montreal is one of my favorite cities, definate worth a return

Quoting yulqc (Reply 22):Love your pictures, they bring back so many childhood memories! Going to "Carnaval de Québec" with my family was a must as a child! And who knows how many times I slid on those hills! In Québec city, the picture that you identify as Quebec's main train station is actually the Quebec's national assembly (parliament).

Great to know, I indeed made a typo there! too bad you can only edit your report only 30 minutes after posting!!

Quoting yulqc (Reply 22):And Montreal.. how many times have I biked on that hill and looked at the stadium from exactly that same spot!

Hope you met some nice Canadian fellows during your stay and looking forward to read more about your upcoming trips!

Safe landings!

Amazing panorama! If the stairs wheren't frozen, I would have gone there to make some better pics.

Fyi, none of Sky Regional's Q400s are new builds, they all had previous owners. SRJ was on loan to Jazz just for the summer, it's now back at Sky Regional. Jazz Q4s are all NG models with nice big bins and different galley layouts, SkRegional's are the older version.

25 MSS658
: Hello Crj 900 Thanks for the insight! The info of C-FSRJ was found on Airfleets.net Greetings Marc

26 eastafspot
: Good report as usual Those lovely pics of Montreal remind me how this city is beautiful and lively yummy! what is it exactly? next time if you can try

27 MSS658
: Hi Leo, Thanks Fried dough with choice of topping! Sure need to do one day, I think they all 3 operate on a seperate IOC? can any insider confirm/cor

28 stipica
: Hi Mark ! super nice report but all opus is informative and interesting ... nice that you log YTZ with competition ... so weird that AC is not dominan

29 Parton87
: Hello Marc!! Thanks for the nice story! Love the pictures from Canada! It´s on my "to see list". Nice to see it in winter landscape too. AC looks goo